American Republican Party (1843)

The American Republican Party was a minor anti-Catholic, anti-immigration, and nativist political organization that was launched in New York in June 1843, largely as a protest against immigrant voters and officeholders.

In 1844, the American Republican Party carried municipal elections in New York City and Philadelphia and expanded so rapidly that by July 1845 a national convention was called. This convention changed the name to the Native American Party and drafted a legislative program calling for a 21-year period preceding naturalization and other sweeping reforms in the immigration policy of the United States, as well as mandating the use of the Protestant King James Bible in public schools.

Despite some initial success of the party, it lost public support following the Philadelphia nativist riots of 1844 during which American Republican Party members were involved in burning down two Catholic churches.

Its founders included Lewis Charles Levin, Samuel Kramer, "General" Peter Sken Smith, James Wallace, and John Gitron.